Let’s make Round 2 even better than last year.

Enjoy…

How in holy, blazing, snowball devouring hell has Jeff Bridges never won an Oscar???

If you’re anything like us, one of the first things you did when you woke up Tuesday morning was check out the announcement of the 2010 Academy Award nominations. And if you’re really like us, you were a bit disappointed with the list.

We’ve known for a while that the Academy planned to nominate ten films for best picture this year instead of the usual five. Unfortunately, this was a really, really weak year for mainstream film. Out of the ten, we consider six to be immediate throw-aways (Avatar, An Education, Precious, The Blind Side, A Serious Man, Up), leaving only four solid contenders (Up in the Air, Inglourious Basterds, The Hurt Locker, District 9).

Acting has also seen better years. The nominees this year include low points like Morgan Freeman (Best Actor) and Matt Damon (Best Supporting) in Invictus (both played themselves with African accents), Sandra Bullock (Best Actress) in The Blind Side (the chick from Miss Congeniality and The Net? Really???), and Stanley Tucci (Best Supporting) in The Lovely Bones (great actor, not his best role or film).

High notes include Jeff Bridges and Woody Harrelson finally getting some much overdue love (Best Actor, Crazy Heart and Best Supporting, The Messenger respectively), Carey Mulligan (Best Actress) for her breakthrough role in An Education, and Christoph Waltz (Best Supporting, Inglourious Basterds) and Mo’Nique (Best Supporting, Precious) as our only two real locks this year.

In one of the biggest travesties since LOTR: Return of the King, Avatar has beennominated for NINE f-ing awards (Best Picture, Director, Original Score, Original Screenplay, Art Direction, Cinematography, Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects). As entertaining and visually awe-inspiring as it was, there was nothing at all original about the score or the screenplay, and putting it up against Tarantino and Reitman is just insulting.

We still have a few major films to watch, as well as a lot of foreign, documentary, and short nominees. Expect to see our official preview, along with our personal Oscar ballots, in a few weeks. Until then, to see the full list of nominees click here.

Alright people, it’s awards season again. Time to roll out the red carpet, dish about celebrities, and gossip about who’s wearing what and going with who, right? Wait, who said “right”? Get the fuck out of here, Hugh Jackman, no one wants to hear you sing!

This is sexy gypsy. Which means we’ve all spent the last few months hyping up Kathryn Bigelow and The Hurt Locker, and now it’s time to judge the nominees, talk shit about the winners, and make sure Kanye’s good and liquored up, just in case.

Last year’s Academy Awards were probably the best since 2006, with a lot of good films, and plenty of solid wins. Last year was also the first time we actually paid attention to the Golden Globes, and they appeared to be a good indicator of Oscars to come. This year, however, we have many mixed feelings; we’re confused, worried, and a little sleepy. Here’s why:

THE GOOD:

Best Actor in a Drama: After a lot of great roles, and some near misses, Jeff Bridges is finally getting some love for his role in Crazy Heart, taking the Globe for Best Actor in a Drama. Granted, he was up against Morgan “Like a Twinky” Freeman, and Tobey Maguire (who played his role in Brothers like Adam Sandler’s Waterboy), but it’s good to see him win.

Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical: It comes as no surprise that Meryl Streep is adding more trophies to the case. Despite an obviously lopsided script, Streep stole the show and became Julia Child, earning a Best Actress Globe. For anyone who says “she has enough awards”, that’s like saying Brett Favre has enough records. When you’re that good, it’s gonna happen one way or another.

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Musical: Saying you didn’t like Precious is the same as telling the liberal guilt-ridden among us that you hate puppies. Well we didn’t like Precious. (but we do love puppies!) First of all, the actual title is: “Precious: Based on a Novel by Sapphire”, which is just fucking stupid. Second, instead of an honest “look at life on these streets” film, they made a “look how sad and stereotypical and fucked up this poor black girl’s life is” film. Despite that, Mo’nique managed to de-board Soul Plane, and give an emotional performance with a despicable character, giving her a well-deserved Supporting Actress award.

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama: Probably the best choice this year was Christoph Waltz for his creepy-yet-articulate Nazi officer in Inglourious Basterds. Considering the competition (Stanley Tucci, Christopher Plummer, Woody Harrelson, Matt Damon), his Best Supporting Actor award gave us hope that the HFPA isn’t totally blind.

Best Screenplay: And finally, Jason Reitman brought home a Globe for his original screenplay for Up in the AIr. He was a little pissed that he lost best picture, but expect to see him at the Academy Awards as well.

THE BAD:

One word: Avatar. Avatar is an amazing achievement in CGI and motion capture technology, and the 3-D factor didn’t hurt. It is possibly one of Cameron’s best films, technically speaking. But winning Golden Globes for Best Picture and Best Director is kinda ridiculous. The story was borrowed, the score was unoriginal, and even though acting and directing were on point, what made this film was the budget, pure and simple. With The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, and Up in the Air in the same category, this was just a poor choice.

THE QUESTIONABLE:

Best Actress in a Drama: We haven’t seen The Blind Side yet, but it’s hard to believe Sandra Bullock could legitimately beat out Helen Mirren or Emily Blunt. However, it’s not the craziest win in recent years, for example—Jennifer Hudson. And both the HFPA and the Academy have been known to make…ahem…political choices. We just hope this isn’t one of those years.

Best Comedy or Musical: The Hangover is hands down the funniest movie since Anchorman. The sheer entertainment value and Vegas-style buffet of hilarious one-liners are obvious. As a film, though, we’re not sure it really stacks up against the writing of (500) Days of Summer, the acting talent in It’s Complicated, or the direction of Julie and Julia.

Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical: We can’t decide if Robert Downey Jr. picks bad projects to be great in, or if someone just needs to throw him a freaking bone, but his Best Actor nomination for Sherlock Holmes, immediately following one for Tropic Thunder, is kinda depressing. If Daniel Day-Lewis saw Sherlock Holmes on the street, he’d call him a Bastard in a Basket and throw him down a drill shaft. And with Matt Damon and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the same category, this win warrants a pause.

Best Animated Feature: It’s difficult sometimes to rate animated features. Probably because 90% of them are so damned delightful. All of the nominees this year were solid films. But the serious, sometimes depressing tone of Up, pitted against the whimsical jello house that is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Wes Anderson’s first good film EVER (Fantastic Mr. Fox) is a tough call, and we’re not convinced the Globes made the right one.

Television Globes for the year were uninspired, and we really didn’t care; but for anyone dying to know, here’s some highlights:

Tru Blood was neglected…again. Californication was neglected…again. Michael C. Hall (Dexter) beat cancer, then he beat Hugh Laurie (House) for Best Actor in a Drama. Yes, Glee won best comedy/musical, so you can sing your fucking little heart out. Tina Fey (30 Rock) lost to a schizophrenic Toni Colette (United States of Tara). When they announced Alec Baldwin’s (30 Rock) win for Best Actor in a comedy, they found him in the bathroom doing blow off a groupie’s ass with David Duchovny (Californication). Not really, but wouldn’t that be the best damn crossover episode ever??

All in all, we can’t be too mad at the Golden Globes this year; there were very few horrible choices. We’re still not as excited as last year, though. Maybe it’s because our man-crush Danny Boyle got so many awards last time, but with all the questionable wins so far this could end up being a “What The Fuck?” year at the Oscars . And with 10 nominees in the major categories coming our way next month, we are less than pleased about it.

First and foremost, we would like to thank all of you who supported us on Sunday and followed the live blog. It was a big day for Sexy Gypsy, and it really set the bar high.

Unfortunately, the Academy set the bar pretty low for hosting this year. Hugh Jackman, while slightly entertaining and charismatic at first, bored us to death with the constant musical numbers. This is the Oscars, dammit, we didn’t watch the Grammies for a reason. Also, the new format for actor awards runs a little long for our taste. Do we really need past winners standing up there talking one by one about the nominees for this year? We know Heath Ledger was an amazing Joker, do we really need Kevin Kline to tell us again? And if Cuba Gooding Jr. wants to be on stage at the red carpets, maybe he should be in a movie that doesn’t suck ass.

So despite some random last minute decisions, Sexy Gypsy did pretty well in predicting the Oscars this year. Our preview was right on the money for the big categories, even if our ballots weren’t. Unlike past years, there were no really big upsets. So let’s recap:

Best Picture: We all knew that Slumdog Millionaire was going to sweep the awards again. Milk was an amazing contender, but couldn’t stand up to the sheer brilliance in editing, direction, sound, and writing that Slumdog brought. Well deserved.

Best Director: David Fincher and Ron Howard have done better work. Stephen Daldry’s presence, not only in this category, but also in every other category The Reader was nominated, was a ridiculous, unwarranted usurping of Sam Mendes’ rightful seat with Revolutionary Road. Van Sant gave him a good run for the money, but Danny Boyle couldn’t be ignored any longer. Well deserved.

Best Actor: Minus Brad Pitt, this category was stacked. Jenkins, Langella, Penn, and Rourke all gave amazing performances. But it really came down to the latter two, and even though Prop 8 could’ve pushed Penn to the win, he was fantastic, and at least Rourke is again on the radar. Questionable, but well deserved.

Best Actress: Anne Hathaway hasn’t been as typecast as most people believe. Her role in Havoc was enough for us to take her seriously. Unfortunately, she was up against two major actresses (not counting Melissa Leo or Angelina Jolie). However, Streep has had her Oscar recognition, and Winslet was due after so many dead end nominations. Well deserved, wrong film (should have been Revolutionary Road).

Best Supporting Actor: If you read our preview, you know our conspiracy theories in this category. But there was only ever a slight doubt in anyone’s mind that Ledger would walk with this one. His “eclectic” career aside, this was not only his best performance, but one of the best of all time. Hey Downey, why so serious? Well deserved.

Best Supporting Actress: This category wasn’t really stellar, but everyone did a good job in their roles. Amy Adams, however, was definitely a head above the rest, in emotion and in screen time. Predicting this one was disappointing, because we knew Cruz would take it for being involved in an otherwise-not-nominated Woody Allen film. Undeserved.

Other categories of interest

Foreign Language: Waltz with Bashir should’ve taken this, and most people thought it would. Always gotta be on the lookout for the underdog.

Shorts: It is surprising that On the Line or Manon on the Asphalt didn’t take it, considering they were more the Academy’s usual taste, but Toyland was interesting and well edited, and the only WWII film even nominated this year. Also surprising, but definitely exciting, was the Academy’s decision to look past Pixar’s usual animated brilliance and give the Oscar to La Maison en Petits Cubes, the emotional Japanese film with a French name.

Screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire was an amazing adaptation, as shown by its eight wins this year. However, we still believe that, with any other director, the script would have fallen short. Doubt, though sub par in acting and directing, was an amazingly well written film, full of amazing dialogue. Milk was the obvious choice for Original Screenplay. It built and developed all the characters for the actors to round out, and there wasn’t a weak link in the bunch.

Another surprise was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. All three of this film’s awards (Visual Effects, Art Direction, and Makeup) beat out The Dark Knight, which was a thousand times better in all of them. This is either an apology to Fincher for ignoring Zodiac, or an apology to Brad Pitt that he will never, ever, ever be Batman. Robin, maybe, but not The Dark Knight.

Overall, a good year for movies, and a solid Academy Awards ceremony. We will of course be starting this all over again next November, but for now we return you to your regularly scheduled programming. Thanks for the support.

-Sexy Gypsy

Best Picture

Of the five films in this category, only two really have a shot. Frost/Nixon was a great stage adaptation with amazing performances and, while solid, was ultimately compromised by Ron Howard’s lack of technical abilities. The Reader was boring, poorly constructed, and probably the most overrated film in the last 20 years. And Benjamin Button was average at best.

That leaves us with Milk and Slumdog Millionaire. And it’s close.

Milk was perfectly casted, acted and edited. Thankfully, Gus van Sant showed enough restraint not to fuck it up with his usual annoyingly pseudo-artistic direction. Add to that the best performance of Sean Penn’s career and you have a serious contender for Best Picture.

But, unfortunately for Gus van Sant and Milk, 2009 is the year of Slumdog. With great music, flawless direction and screenplay, Slumdog Millionaire has finally brought Danny Boyle to the forefront of cinema. He’s a versatile director who can excel in any genre, and Slumdog’s complex, non-linear story line really allowed him to showcase his skills. The result was a beautifully executed film whose broad appeal, blending of cultures, and surprising rise to recognition puts it over the top.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Slumdog Millionaire

WHO WILL WIN: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor

Why is Brad Pitt in this category? He gave a much better, rounder performance in A River Runs Through It and is the weak link in this category with his one-note portrayal of Benjamin Button. Richard Jenkins is finally getting the love he deserves, after years of being “that guy”—you recognize him, know he’s in things, but you don’t know his name or why you seem to remember him (if you still don’t know who he is, he’s the dead father in Six Feet Under). Unfortunately, his well-developed performance will be eclipsed by the big three: Mickey Rourke, Frank Langella, and Sean Penn. This will ultimately be decided by politics: the resurrection of Mickey Rourke, the Nixon scandal, or the gay character post-prop 8.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Mickey Rourke WHO WILL WIN: Sean Penn, because the Academy loves him.

Best Actress

First off, the Academy needs to decide what constitutes a leading role, because Kate Winslet should have been up for Revolutionary Road, not The Reader, both for technical and performance-quality reasons. She’ll probably win, but only because Stephen Daldry is a marketing whore and has been politicking for The Reader like he was Blagojevich selling a Senate seat.

Meryl Streep and Angelina Jolie both had great roles, but it was more the writing than they acting that made their characters special. While Angelina Jolie will get a nomination for anything in which she’s not half naked shooting at people, Streep didn’t bring the expected veteran-actress energy to an already well written character—and it fell short.

Melissa Leo in Frozen River was an interesting choice. A small, low-budget, independent film shot in 24 days spawns a Best Actress nomination? But it’s a well-crafted story—solid throughout. As for Melissa Leo’s performance, as good a job as she did, she’s not beating out Streep, let alone Winslet.

Anne Hathaway, on the other hand, deserves credit for nailing her part as a fresh-out-of-rehab junkie—a role often cliched, parodied, and overplayed. Sadly, no one saw Rachel Getting Married. It’s not a great film but Hathaway more than makes up for it (Plus, Tunde from TV on The Radio plays her brother-in-law-to-be!)

WHO SHOULD WIN: Anne Hathaway WHO WILL WIN: Kate Winslet

Best Supporting Actor

Robert Downey, Jr. is an amazing actor and definitely deserves some fucking recognition. But Tropic Thunder? Really?? It’s picks like this that make people clown the Oscar. Everyone else was solid, but Josh Brolin, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Michael Shannon picked a shitty year to be nominated.

Philip Seymour Hoffman was miscast in the role of Father Flynn, and he did the best he could. Still, his subpar performance paled in comparison to most of his other work. Josh Brolin, though slightly outshone by the rest of the supporting cast, was impressive in Milk. He just seems to have bad luck—going against Daniel Day-Lewis last year, and now Heath Ledger. Michael Shannon had three great scenes, and blew me away in Revolutionary Road. He was the most interesting character in a Sam Mendes movie, which in itself says a lot, and he had a huge impact in his 120 seconds of screen time.

Yet as good as they were, Brolin and Shannon especially, no one is beating Heath Ledger. A solid, completely immersive portrayal of a psychotic clown in a movie that destroyed box offices everywhere? He deserves the award no matter what, and it only helps that he’s dead.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Heath Ledger (but only because he’s dead) WHO WILL WIN: Heath Ledger (but only because he’s dead)

Best Supporting Actress

How long do you have to be in a film to fulfill the “supporting” criteria? Viola Davis, though very emotional, had one scene in Doubt. However, she was just as memorable as Michael Shannon in her limited screen time. Penelope Cruz didn’t have a much bigger role, and she’s only here because she played a cup full of crazy in a Woody Allen movie, and her crazy wasn’t as good as crazies in the past (Wilkinson in Michael Clayton). But Amy Adams is a head above the rest in this category, and hopefully that’s enough.

Taraji Henson is here just because the Academy loved Benjamin Button, but it wasn’t a great film and she wasn’t all that good in it. Outside of Cruz, she’s the weakest nominee in this category. It was like she played the great-great-grandmother of her character in Hustle and Flow.

Marisa Tomei is the dark horse here. She gave an incredible performance in The Wrestler and she’s still ridiculously hot.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Amy Adams WHO WILL WIN: Penelope Cruz

Best Director

If you’ve ever read sexy gypsy, you already know our pick for Best Director. Motherfucking Danny Boyle.

Stephen Daldry is now on my shit list for The Reader—even more so for plugging the fuck out of an inferior movie and tricking everyone into thinking it was great. Who the fuck does he think he is, M. Night Shyamalan?

David Fincher is a great director with some amazing movies under his belt, but the travesty of Curious Case of Benjamin Button is not one of them. The sequence with Tilda Swinton and Brad Pitt was the only time you really saw Fincher’s influence, and it was the best part of the film.

Ron Howard is still Hollywood’s golden boy, so it’s not surprising he was nominated for Frost/Nixon. Aside from persistent anachronisms and mishandling of time, Howard preserved the spirit of the stage play and the camera work was excellent.

Gus van Sant finally decided to humble himself and make a solid, consistent film, and is really the only one who could challenge Boyle. The Academy loves him, and could look to make up for robbing him of Best Director in 1997, plus some Prop 8 guilt could come into play. This is definitely a category to watch.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Danny Boyle (with an honorable mention and apology to Sam Mendes) WHO WILL WIN: Danny Boyle

Conspiracies

• Who did Sam Mendes piss off? He is a great filmmakers and Revolutionary Road, though disturbingly depressing, was an amazing film. Camera work, editing, score, acting, screenplay—all great. Yet the Academy left him out of the running and even changed the nomination for Kate Winslet, calling her performance in The Reader a lead—a role which the HFPA considered a supporting a few months ago. I think he’s in the doghouse for some reason, and Michael Shannon’s nomination is an apology. I suspect that, though Ledger has it locked, they might upset everything and give it to Shannon, just to show there’s no hard feelings.
• Amy Adams deserves to win best supporting, but everything in Hollywood is political (which could also explain Winslet’s bump to lead role after Daldry’s whoring). My guess is that Cruz could walk with this one because the Academy loves Woody Allen and they’re sorry he made a dumb movie they can’t nominate for anything else.
• Again making up for its past mistakes, the Academy has shown major love to Benjamin Button. They want so badly to let Pitt have one, but Babel just wasn’t that good. And Zodiac, Fincher’s first Academy-worthy film, just came out too early for Oscar consideration.
• 4.) Robert Downey, Jr. has been in some great movies, always does his roles beautifully, and the Academy thinks he’s due for something. But since Charlie Bartlett got impatient and fucked off what could have been a serious, profound ending, he couldn’t get anything for that. And Iron Man was entertaining, but no actor will ever get an Oscar for playing a superhero. Downey’s next film is The Soloist with Jamie Foxx, directed by Joe Wright. It would have been a contender for the Oscars but was pulled from its November release date and slated for early March, 2009. So now it comes down to Tropic Thunder.

So a priest walks into a rectory…

I agree, child molestation is not the least bit funny, especially by church officials. But these days, that story ends the same way every time. The church is saturated with loose morals and questionable ethics. Which is why a film like Doubt speaks so loudly to our current culture.

Writer/Director John Patrick Shanley also penned the award-winning play, which helps to keep the tone and dialogue intact. Aside from a couple randomly skewed camera angles, the direction is fairly standard, nothing really worthy of the Academy in my humble opinion. Editing, Cinematography, Score, all middle of the road. The best part of this film is the screenplay.

The story, while uncomfortably familiar to us, is actually set in The Bronx, 1964. Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Sister James (Amy Adams) and Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) are all dedicated Catholics working at St. Nicholas’ school. When Sr. James comes to Sr. Aloysius with minor suspicions about Father Flynn and a young male student, Aloysius embarks on a lone, stubborn, dogmatic crusade to prove the priest’s wrongdoing.

The reason I say the screenplay is the best part is that it plays on people’s presumptions and biases without actually revealing the answer. According to rumors, Shanley, both in the play and the film, told only the actor playing the priest whether or not he was guilty. The rest of the cast was kept in the dark. This amazing little bit of clandestine filmmaking, in my opinion, directly related to each character’s performance. Hoffman is progressive, kind, almost fun. Adams is innocent, forgiving, and scared. Streep is uncompromising. Some of the alleged actions take place off screen, some are innocent, some are questionable. The audience ultimately decides.

When discussing this film with a friend, I found that we spent more time talking about what the film didn’t say than the obvious incidents on screen. It is complex, vague, and divisive, yet well rounded and technically simplistic. The occasional in-your-face symbolism is forgivable, and offset by some fantastic dialogue.

Strangely enough, the casting in this film feels a bit off. Viola Davis, though only on screen for about 4 minutes, gives a heartfelt performance as the child’s mother. Amy Adams is perfect as the innocent new sister; she really steals the show. However, Hoffman is really no better in this film than any other project, and even if his tempered performance was consistent with his character, his acting potential stays in the bag with the cat. Meryl Streep, though believable as a strict nun, seems to reprise her role: The Devil Wears a Prada Habit. Ridiculously dogmatic in her adherance to her beliefs on Catholic principles, she is intimidating and rabid, but rarely do we see any depth in her character.

Whether you’re comfortable with the subject matter or not, whether you appreciate the dialogue or not, this film is worthy of most of the awards it is nominated for, and, at the very least, it will spark lengthy intelligent discussions.

Final Grade: B

It’s 2009. The Golden Globes have come and gone. Obama is officially president. We can finally put 2008 behind us, right? Wrong. Tomorrow, the Academy will announce its nominees for the 2009 Oscars ceremony on February 22. Which means for the next month, you can add, “So who do you think will win best sound mixing?” to your repertoire of suave pick-up lines.

As we said, we’ve never really paid attention to the Golden Globes. Around this time of year, we’re usually already trying to predict not only the Oscar nominees, but also the winners. However, after the surprising sweeps by Slumdog Millionaire and Kate Winslet, we decided to read up on the HFPA and compare them with the Academy. We found some interesting stuff.

2006 was the year of Crash, at least for the Oscars. Strangely enough, it didn’t even get nominated for a Golden Globe, which went to Brokeback Mountain (over A History of Violence) and Walk the Line (over The Squid and the Whale). If that wasn’t weird enough, George Clooney and Rachel Weisz undeservedly won both awards for best supporting (Syriana and The Constant Gardener respectively), and Ang Lee won both for Brokeback Mountain (also undeserved).

2007 saw some interesting competition. Little Miss Sunshine, Thank You For Smoking, The Departed, Babel, The Queen…the list goes on. The Academy was, if nothing else, consistent in its awards (The Departed won a couple…). The HFPA, on the other hand, gave best picture to Babel and Dreamgirls, the latter actually cleaning up the Golden Globes, with Eddie Murphy winning best supporting actor (Alan Arkin wasn’t even nominated, seriously?) and Jennifer Hudson getting supporting actress in both ceremonies, which is just silly.

2008 was the closest race in recent years, so we can’t be mad at either group. Atonement got the Globe for best picture, No Country for Old Men got the Oscar. Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) won a director Globe, The Coens scored the Oscar. The only travesty was Tilda Swinton winning a best supporting Oscar for Michael Clayton.

What we found interesting was that, in all three years, every Oscar winner for actor and actress also won the Golden Globe. Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote) and Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line) in 2006. Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) and Helen Mirren (The Queen) in 2007. Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood) and Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) in 2008.

So what will happen in 2009? Will Danny Boyle finally grab the gold? Will Mickey Rourke finally give an acceptance speech (it sure as hell better not be Colin Farrell). Or will the Academy condemn the HFPA for not at least giving Woody Allen or Sean Penn a reach-around for being overrated?

We’ll see tomorrow.

Atonement

This sophomore effort by Joe Wright is a directorial paint-by-numbers designed specifically to get an Oscar.  It is rigid, mechanical, and devoid of the emotions it is supposed to arouse.  The score, costume design, and cinematography are all solid, but not extraordinary.  The screenplay lacks the substance to make you believe James McAvoy and Keira Knightley are truly in love, or truly suffering for the sake of it.  The acting is good, but appears to be hindered by a director unwilling to go outside the lines and actually make a film.  Will it win?  Probably.  Does it deserve to win? No.

Juno

For what it is, this film is perfect.  The quirky dialogue, music, and animated introduction all fit together amazingly on screen.  The subject matter is somewhat controversial, the parental reactions are unconventional, but it is a heartfelt story with amazing performances by the entire cast, great editing and camerawork.  I‚m just excited it was nominated.

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p class=”paragraph_style_2”>Michael Clayton

This is Rainmaker with a better cast, The Firm with less tension, and A Civil Action without victims or a clear understanding of the crimes committed.  John Grisham can write better in his sleep.  Editing, directing, cinematography, screenplay, acting, are all lacking.  George Clooney is George Clooney; no intensity, emotion, or drive in the character.  Tilda Swinton is barely in it, and she did a better job in The Chronicles of Narnia.  Tom Wilkinson deserves the nomination, but not the win.  He does crazy very well for 20 minutes, but we‚ve come to expect this from him.

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p class=”paragraph_style_2”>There Will Be Blood

For a film based on an Upton Sinclair novel, this movie is unconventional and well crafted.  Long and unusual camera shots, intense acting, and a killer score highlight a brave directing style.  Day-Lewis is an intriguing and multi-layered character whose ambition is depicted very well in the first ten minutes (in which there is no dialogue whatsoever).  The sound bleeds and artistic disconnect between sound and camera, are risky moves, but work out well.  My only complaint: The last 30 minutes are too removed from the rest of the film to make any real sense, and the characters and dialogue are completely different without an explanation.

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p class=”paragraph_style_2”>No Country for Old Men

My favorite film of 2007.  Directing was on point with established Coen Brothers style, with solid additions.  The lack of a score is still a score, as the silence is itself a character that plays well with the rest of them.  Cinematography and lighting are fantastic.  The screenplay is nothing spectacular, but the adaptation is respectable.  Performances are all seamless and tempered by simple, deliberate dialogue that allows intense emotions to come from scenes and facial expressions.  Javier Bardom is amazing, a standout performance that leaves you feeling uncomfortable and unnerved even when he‚s not on screen.  No lacking elements, and some extraordinary ones make it my Oscar pick.

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p class=”paragraph_style_2”>Additional Picks

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p class=”paragraph_style_2”>American Gangster

It takes a great director and great actors to produce a film like this nowadays.  It is calm, patient, and explosive at the same time.  Characters come off contradictory, but not underdeveloped.  Cinematography is solid.  Music and art design are perfect for the period.  It seems to have aspirations of Michael Mann‚s Heat, and it understandably falls short, but this film is well rounded, beautifully directed, and completely underappreciated by the academy.  That‚s a damn shame.

Zodiac

David Fincher‚s early 2007 adaptation of Robert Graysmith‚s book is dark, eerie, and well crafted. Typical Fincher, not his best, but solid.  Definitely one of Ruffalo‚s best, though Gyllenhaal doesn‚t stand out.  Editing and cinematography are worth a nod, as is the adapted screenplay.  It came out too early to get any credit.

Sunshine

Sci-fi films usually never get any kind of award notice.  However, this brilliant new film from Danny Boyle is a masterpiece of cinematography, editing, and stunning visuals.  It sucks that, in this genre, amazing filmmakers are overlooked, but Pirates of the Caribbean can get multiple nominations.

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p class=”paragraph_style_2”>Saw IV

I know, I know.  It‚s a low budget horror sequel not worthy of a Golden Globe.  However, when I walked out of this film, I wasn‚t thinking about the gore, the twists, or the revamping of the franchise.  I was thinking, „Damn, that was some amazing editing.‰  I say, if The Bourne Ultimatum can get three nominations it doesn‚t deserve, maybe the Academy should think a little more outside the box.

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p class=”paragraph_style_2”>The Kingdom

Oscar winners Jamie Foxx and Chris Cooper have been in better films, but this was a great, non-political movie that could‚ve easily been nominated for best cinematography or sound mixing.  If I find out it‚s because it‚s about Iraq, heads will roll, Hollywood.

My condolences to the Academy for 2007.  It must be difficult to compile a list of nominees without being able to nominate Oliver Stone, Jack Nicholson, Ron Howard, or Peter Jackson.  Maybe next year.